Siding Contractors on South Hill, Bellingham WA

Respecting a Century of Craftsmanship on South Hill

South Hill is Bellingham's museum of early-twentieth-century housebuilding — Craftsman bungalows, foursquares, and grand view homes stepping down the slope from Western Washington University toward Bellingham Bay. Most still wear some version of their original cedar: bevel siding, shingle gables, deep trim casings milled when old-growth lumber was ordinary stock. Re-siding a house like this is not the same job as wrapping a 1990s suburban box, and it shouldn't be treated like one. Alpine Exteriors approaches South Hill projects as restoration first and replacement second.

The hill's geography adds its own demands. West-facing walls stare straight into weather coming off the bay, taking sun, salt-tinged wind, and driven rain in equal measure, while shaded east-side walls under mature trees stay damp and grow moss on the paint. A single South Hill house can need two different siding strategies on two different elevations — and after 2,000+ projects around Bellingham, we plan for exactly that.

Repair, Replicate, or Replace

Original old-growth cedar is often worth saving; it's tighter-grained and more rot-resistant than anything milled today. Our first move on a historic home is an honest assessment, wall by wall:

• Selective repair where the original siding is sound — replacing only failed courses with matched-profile cedar so the patch disappears
• Profile replication when full walls must go, custom-matching reveal, edge, and trim dimensions so the house keeps its face
• Fiber cement conversions for owners who want the historic look with modern durability, using smooth-finish products that read correctly on a 1915 facade
• Lead-safe work practices throughout, since paint layers of this vintage predate 1978 and demand certified containment, not casual scraping

Underneath whichever path you choose, we modernize what the original builders couldn't: a true weather-resistive barrier, flashed window openings, and drainage details that let these hundred-year-old walls finally dry the way modern building science says they should.

The View Homes and the Wind

Houses along the upper streets — the ones with the postcard panorama of the bay, the islands, and the sunset — pay for that view in exposure. We upgrade fastening schedules on windward walls, rebuild the water tables and belt courses that shed runoff on tall facades, and use finishes rated for the UV load a west-facing wall over open water absorbs. 25 years of building in this county have taught us that South Hill's weather side is a different climate from its lee side, and we bid and build accordingly.

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If your South Hill home's siding is cupping, chalking, or hiding soft spots at the sills, we'll come look — on-site estimates are free, and we'll tell you plainly which walls need work and which don't. Every installation we perform is covered by a 25-year workmanship warranty, a commitment measured on the same scale as the houses themselves.